Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 25:31
And thou shalt make a candlestick [of] pure gold: [of] beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
31. candlestick ] Lampstand would be a more accurate rendering; but no doubt ‘candlestick’ (though the expression involves an anachronism) is generally understood here in the same sense.
its base ] Heb. its thigh (or loins), which seems to include rather more than the ‘base,’ viz. the part of the central stem below the lowest pair of branches, as well as the actual base, probably some kind of tripod, into which it must ultimately have expanded.
The Golden Lampstand, as reconstructed by Prof. A. R. S. Kennedy.
From Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible, iv. (1902), p. 663.
shaft ] lit. reed.
its cups, (namely,) its knops, and its flowers ] As v. 33 shews, the ‘cup is the whole opened flower, its component parts being the ‘knop’ and the ‘flower,’ or, in technical language, the calyx and the corolla, i.e. (roughly) the outer and inner leaves of the entire flower. ‘Knop’ is an old word meaning knob, or bud.
of one piece with it ] See on v. 19.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Exo 25:31
A candlestick of pure gold – (Compare Exo 37:17-24.) A lampstand rather than a candlestick. Its purpose was to support seven oil-lamps. Its height appears to have been about three feet, and its width two feet. The original foot was lost or stolen when the candlestick was taken out of the temple, and the pedestal in the sculpture was added by some Roman artist to set off the trophy.
His shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers – Or, its base, its stem, its flower cups, its knobs, and its lilies.
Exo 25:33
Three bowls made like unto almonds – Three cups of almond flowers. These appear to be the cups in immediate contact with the knobs as shown in the sculpture.
A flower – A lily; and this rendering well agrees with the sculpture.
The candlestick – Here, and in the two following verses, the word appears to denote the stem, as the essential part of the candlestick. It would seem from Exo 25:33-35 that the ornamentation of the candlestick consisted of uniform members, each comprising a series of an almond flower, a knob and a lily; that the stem comprised four of these members; that each pair of branches was united to the stem at one of the knobs; and that each branch comprised three members. In comparing the description in the text with the sculptured figure, allowance must be made for some deviation in the sculptors copy.
Exo 25:37
Seven lamps – These lamps were probably like those used by the Egyptian and other nations, shallow covered vessels more or less of an oval form, with a mouth at one end from which the wick protruded. The candlestick was placed on the south side of the holy place Exo 26:35, with the line of lamps parallel with the wall, or, according to Josephus, somewhat obliquely. If the wick-mouths of the lamps were turned outwards, they would give light over against the candlestick; that is, toward the north side (see Num 8:2).
Light was of necessity required in the tabernacle, and wherever light is used in ceremonial observance, it may of course be taken in a general way as a figure of the Light of Truth; but in the sanctuary of the covenanted people, it must plainly have been understood as expressly significant that the number of the lamps (seven) agreed with the number of the covenant. The covenant of Yahweh was essentially a covenant of light.
They shall light – See the margin and the note at Lev 1:9.
Exo 25:38
The tongs – Used to trim and adjust the wicks. (Compare Isa 6:6.)
The snuff-dishes – These were shallow vessels used to receive the burnt fragments of wick removed by the tongs. The same Hebrew word is translated, in accordance with its connection, fire pans, Exo 27:3; Exo 38:3; and censers, Num 4:14; Num 16:6.
Exo 25:39
A talent of pure gold – about 94 lbs.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Exo 25:31-37
A candlestick of pure gold.
The golden candlestick
I. This light shines because it is light, without effort, spontaneously. If the lamp is kindled it will shine; and so this emblem has its beautiful felicity in that it points, as the highest definition of all Christian men, to the effortless, spontaneous irradiation and streaming out from themselves of the fire that lies within them. Like a light in an alabaster vase, that shines through its transparency and reveals the lovely veining of the stone, so the grace of God in a mans heart will shine through him, turning even the opacity of his earthly nature into a medium for veiling perhaps, but also in another aspect for making visible the light that is in him.
II. The light was derived light; and it was fed. We have a priest who walks in His temple and trims the lamps. The condition of the light is keeping close to Christ, and it is because there is such a gap between you and Him that there is so little brightness in you. The candlestick was really a lamp fed by oil; that symbol, as Zechariah tells us, stands for the Divine influence of Gods quickening Spirit.
III. The light was clustered light. The seven-branched candlestick represented the rigid, formal unity of the Jewish Church. In the New Testament we have the seven candlesticks diverse, but made one because Jesus Christ is in the midst of them. In this slight diversity of emblem we get the whole difference between the hard external unity of the ancient Jewish polity and the free variety in unity and diversity of the Christian Church, with its individual development as well as with its binding association. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The candlestick
Look at the text as typical of Christ and His Church.
I. Perfection of light. He was the true Light, etc. (Joh 1:9). He came to shed light on every important subject; to let us know–
1. What God is, in the face of Jesus Christ. To let us know–
2. What man is–in his sin, his spiritual relations, his wants, his destiny, etc. To let us know–
3. The future–to bring to light life and immortality.
II. Perfection of union. Branches united to one stem, and both of same material. (The Study.)
The candlestick
It was composed of a main shaft, with its connecting branches.
1. If these branches represent the Church of Christ, the central shaft may well be regarded as representing Christ Himself. From Christ the Church springs, and by Him it is supported, as the outspreading arms of the candlestick are by its central shaft. The Church is united to Him, and sustained by Him.
2. Notice next the branches of the candlestick. These sprang from the central shaft, and were of the same material with each other, and with it. So it is with Christ and His people. He who sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified are all of one.
3. Notice next the ornaments upon the candlestick.
(1) There were bowls like almonds wrought upon it. In these the branches terminated, forming appropriate receptacles for the lamps of the candlestick. The almond, being the first tree to bud in the spring, was a fit type of Him who is the First-born from the dead.
(2) The next ornament was the knops. These may have been swelling buds, from which the branches of the candlestick sprang, expressing the idea that these spreading arms owed both their existence and fruitfulness to the parent stem.
(3) The other ornaments were the flowers. Natural emblems of beauty, representing spiritual loveliness of Christs people.
Lessons:
1. The necessity of a Divine revelation. Without the light of the candlestick, darkness, the most profound, must have filled the Tabernacle. And just such would have been our condition, spiritually considered, without the light of Divine revelation. Reason, the natural sun in the mental world, can shed no light upon the souls concerns. There is no window in the soul through which the light of this natural luminary can shine. The priest in the sanctuary could only see his way and discharge his duties by the help of light from the candlestick, and this was light from heaven, a Divine revelation. And it is only by the aid of such a revelation that we can see our way in reference to spiritual things.
2. The benefits of such a revelation. We perceive this the moment we look around us, in the holy place, and observe what the light of the candlestick discloses to our view. See, over against it stands the golden table with its shewbread. The candlestick, with its heavenly light, enabled the priest, as he entered the holy place, to see where to find this bread. He could not have seen it without this light. And so it is only the light of Divine revelation which reveals Christ, the heavenly bread, to souls that are hungering and perishing for the want of it.
3. The perfection of this revelation. Seven lamps. (R. Newton, D. D.)
The golden candlestick
The candlestick of the Tabernacle was to burn continually in the holy place (Lev 24:2); continually let us question ourselves with respect to our attainments, state, and prospects. In individuality of character let each one ask–
1. Have I seriously and deliberately sought the illumination of my understanding in the things of God from above? I read, If thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God (Pro 2:3-5). Do I thus cry and lift up my voice in supplication for heavenly wisdom? And is Gods Law really better to me than thousands of gold or silver? The blessing is annexed to the precept; can I expect the one without a compliance with the other?
2. Am I walking in the light and comfort of the Holy Ghost? As both a Teacher and a Comforter is the Spirit given. Does He lead me in the way everlasting (Psa 139:24), and cheer me with tokens of good (Psa 86:17)?
3. Do I realize the constant inspection of the Son of Man amidst the congregations of His people? He walks among the golden candlesticks. Is the preacher free from all unbecoming fear of his fellow-mortals on the one hand, and is there no lurking latent aiming after worldly popularity on the other? Does the hearer listen as for life, cultivating a child-like spirit before the Lord, and cherishing no needless or refined fastidiousness about voice or manner in the teacher? (W. Mudge.)
Of the golden candlestick
The pure gold signified how excellent the Word of God is: More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold (Psa 19:10). We are not curiously here to seek the difference of the knops, branches, and flowers, but only to rest in the general–that the candlestick signified the Word. The candlestick had seven branches; it signified the divers gifts bestowed upon His Church by the Word, and John alludeth to the seven branches of this candlestick: And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like the Son of Man clothed with a garment (Rev 1:13). This was but typus arbitrarius, or an allusion; for the golden candlestick was not made to be a type of the seven Churches of Asia, but it is only an allusion to it. So the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life (Pro 11:30), here is an allusion only, that it is like to the tree of life. The oil which was in this candlestick was pure oil. Command the children of Israel that they bring unto thee pure oil olive, beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually (Lev 24:2). This pure oil is called golden oil, or gold for the purity of it, because the oil was bright, clear, and glistering, like gold (Zec 4:12). So Gold cometh out of the north (Job 37:22);that is, fair and clear weather. It was beaten oil, to signify with what pain and travail the Word is prepared, and with patience preached and made to shine in His Church. The Lord commanded to make snuffers of pure gold for the snuffing of the lamps, and snuff-dishes to receive the snuff. He would have the snuff taken from the light, to signify that He would have the Word kept in sincerity and purity; and He would have the snuffers of gold, to teach them to be blameless and holy who are censurers and correctors of others; and He would have the snuff-dishes of gold, to teach them that the covering of the offences of their brethren was a most excellent thing. Lastly, in what manner the priests dressed the lamps. When the lamp was out he lighted it, and when it was not out he dressed it. When the middlemost lamp was out he lighted it from the altar; but the rest of the lamps every one he lighted from the lamp that was next; and he lighted one after another, to signify that one Scripture giveth light to another; and they say in the Talmud that the cleansing of the innermost altar was before the trimming of the five lamps; and the trimming of the five lamps before the blood of the daily sacrifice; and the blood of the daily sacrifice before the trimming of the two lamps; and the trimming of the two lamps before the burning of incense. That the priests should order and trim the lamps signifieth how Christ and His ministers should continually look unto the purity of doctrine and preaching of the light of the gospel from evening to morning in the dark place of this world, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in our hearts (Rev 1:13; 2Pe 1:19). (John Weemes.)
The candlestick a type of Christ
I. It was the only thing that held the light which enlightened the sanctuary! From Christ all the light of grace comes for the benefit of His Church.
II. It had seven lamps (verse 37), to signify that perfection of light that is in Christ.
III. It was placed in the sanctuary. So is Christ as a glorious light placed in His Church.
IV. It had an upright stem, which bore the many branches issuing from it.
V. The branches were adorned with bowls, knobs, flowers, etc. So are Christs ministers adorned with many graces.
VI. Aaron dressed those lamps and renewed their oil daily. So our High Priest is the only enlightener of His faithful ministers.
VII. The candlestick had snuffers and snuff-dishes of pure gold; which might figure forth the good and godly discipline of the Church whereby evil persons who hinder its glory are taken away. (B. Keach.)
The golden chandelier
This consisted of a main shaft with three branches diverging from it on each side. It was made wholly of gold. If hollow, it could hardly have been beaten into shape with the hammer, but must have been cast, perhaps in separate pieces, and afterwards soldered together. The weight of it, including the lamps and a few small utensils used in trimming them, was a Hebrew talent, or about one hundred and thirteen pounds troy; which in gold coin would be equivalent to 5,500. There was a threefold ornamentation in the chandelier, repeated four times in the main shaft, and thrice in each of the branches, described as a bowl, a knob, and a flower, and by some supposed to represent the cup-shaped calyx, the round fruit, and the open blossom of an almond tree. The word translated flower signifies, however, a stem; and the order in which the triad is arranged indicates that the first was the flower, the second the fruit, and the third the stem. The three pairs of branches came out of the main stem at the three places of junction between its four sections of calyx, fruit, and stem. On the upper extremities of the chandelier were seven eye-shaped, or almond-shaped lamps; the wick of the middle lamp projecting from its west end, and the wicks of the others from the end of the lamp nearest to the main shaft. These lamps were not fastened to the chandelier, but so placed upon it that the priest could remove them when he came in the morning to extinguish and trim them, and in the evening to light them for the night. But, though not fastened to the stand as a part of it, they had each its appointed place in the row, and never exchanged places. It seems so natural that the row of lamps should have been parallel with the south wall of the Tabernacle, near which it stood, that almost all writers have passed over the testimony of Josephus to the contrary; who is careful to state that the lamps looked to the east and to the south, the candlestick being placed obliquely. (E. E. Atwater.)
Significance of the lamp-stand
The light emitted by the lamps may have been sometimes useful to the priests in their ministrations; but their aggregation on one stand, and the significant seven by which the number of them is determined, indicate that they were placed here to assist in the representation of religious thought. Their position with reference to the table suggests the possibility that the light was, in its symbolism, the complement of the shewbread. With this hint in mind, we ask, What is it of which light is the natural emblem? Sometimes it is used for knowledge, and especially for the knowledge of God and His relations to man. Knowledge is light; and to impart knowledge is to enlighten. But the import of light in Scripture extends beyond the sphere of the intellect into that of the conscience, covering the domain of duty as well as of verity. The children of light are those who obey, as well as perceive, the reality of the invisible and eternal. Hence those who are the light of the world not only impart knowledge to the ignorant, but reproof to the erring. In short, light in Hebrew symbolism, includes holiness, as well as knowledge. The offering of light which the covenant people brought as an accompaniment to the fruit of their life-work was the symbol of sanctified character. The two symbols are mutually complementary. The prayers and the alms of a good man come up as a memorial before God; and his example, by holding forth the word of life, diffuses an assimilating influence. But this light of holiness man is as unable to produce of himself as is a lamp to shine without oil, and oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit; so that the oblation of light which the covenant people presented to Jehovah in the Tabernacle contained in itself a declaration that they were sanctified by the indwelling Spirit of God. The same idea was again brought to view in the number of the lamps; seven representing a transaction between God and man, and therefore in Mosaism standing for the covenant itself. The illumination was effected by the co-operation of the infinite and the finite; and the lamps were seven because that is the sum of the numerical signatures of the two parties united in producing the light. The lamp-stand served not merely to bear the lamps, but to assist in the symbolism. It represents the covenant people, the organized community, who by the example of their obedience shine for the illumination of the world. The seven branches indicate that it is not a merely human institution, but that God is in the midst of it. (E. E. Atwater.)
The light of Christ
A friend told me that the electric light was so much under control that a gentleman had it in his scarf-pin at a meeting to discuss the utility of the new light. When he stepped on to the platform, the gas was lowered; he then touched two little springs placed on each side of his body, and the brilliant light shone out under his chin, giving light to all around. In a similarly brilliant manner the light of Christ should radiate from every part of living Christians; their eyes should shine with it, their tongues sparkle with it, their hands should be gentle, and their feet should be swift to let others know about Jesus, the Light of the world.
Increasing luminousness the duty of Christs Church
It should grow as rapidly in this grace as it does in any other. The world has advanced in nothing, perhaps, more marvellously than in the betterment of its light-producing contrivances. The improvement made during the last century is very marked. Mankinds lamp one hundred years ago smoked almost as much as it shone. Its wick, being round and bulky, brought up more oil than could be consumed. The first change was to a flat thin wick. This gave a wider surface for the air to act upon. Those particles of carbon which had previously passed off as soot were changed from smoke to flame. The lamp became still more brilliant when the Argand burner was invented. This is cylindrical and hollow. Through its centre rushes a current of air. The flame is thus both enlarged and intensified. The chimney, afterwards added, caused a stronger draught and a fiercer combustion. Mr. Gurney went a step further when he arranged to substitute a current of pure oxygen for common air. The light produced resembled sunshine, and when introduced to the House of Commons, superseding the two hundred and forty wax candles previously used, rendered it unprecedently bright. Then came coal-gas, and now, last of all, has blazed upon us the electric light, which is veritable lightning. (J. Brekenridge.)
A blended radiance
The seven-branched candlestick of the ancient Tabernacle and Temple represented the rigid, formal unity of the Jewish Church. We go to the New Testament, and instead of one hard, external unity, represented by that upright stem, and its three arms on each side, we have the seven candlesticks, diverse, but made one because Jesus Christ is in the midst of them. And in that slight diversity of emblem we get the whole difference between the hard, external unity of the ancient Jewish polity and the free variety in unity and diversity of the Christian Church, with its individual development as well as with its binding association. But for all that, the Church is one light. The rings of light in our gas-stands are pierced with a great number of little holes round each circle, but when you light each tiny jet they all run into one. So the highest form of Christian witness is not when a man starts off from his brethren and sets himself alone in a corner, but when he is content to blend his radiance with his brethrens radiance, and not to mind about his own prominence so long as he contributes to the general light of all. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The golden candlestick
Christ and the Church are both seen here. The base and stock, or main pillar, represent Christ. The branches represent the Church of Christ. Jesus was bruised, and His people are bruised. Christ was made perfect through suffering (Heb 2:10). And the people of God have to be bruised (Php 3:10). It was the duty of the high priest to trim the lamps twice every day, when he came with his golden snuffers and removed any dead material which hindered the light from shining. So Christ, our High Priest, walks among His golden candlesticks, and He has often to apply the snuffers, and to cut off something which hinders the lamp from sending forth its light as it did in times past. When the high priest came with his snuffers he brought the oil-vessel at the same time; so when Christ removes a something which we love, but which hinders us from giving forth that light which ought to shine out from us, He gives us more of the oil of the Holy Spirits power and grace, so that our afflictions may really make us brighter and better Christians. We read about snuffers and snuff-dishes in connection with the candlestick, but not a word is said about an extinguisher. No extinguisher was needed, because the light was never to go out. Our High Priest never comes to us to put out our light; He would have it burn on all the time we remain in the wilderness. Let the Christian remember this, and never mistake the snuffers for the extinguisher. As the candlestick faced the table of shewbread, and so enabled the priests to find their food, it may represent the light of the Holy Ghost which shines on Christ, the true bread. The table is prepared, the food is there, but without the light of the Spirit we shall never find it. We should thank God as much for the Spirit as for the Son, for one will be of no use to us without the other. (G. Rodgers.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 31. A candlestick of pure gold] This candlestick or chandelier is generally described as having one shaft or stock, with six branches proceeding from it, adorned at equal distances with six flowers like lilies, with as many bowls and knops placed alternately. On each of the branches there was a lamp, and one on the top of the shaft which occupied the centre; thus there were seven lamps in all, Ex 25:37. These seven lamps were lighted every evening and extinguished every morning.
We are not so certain of the precise form of any instrument or utensil of the tabernacle or temple, as we are of this, the golden table, and the two silver trumpets.
Titus, after the overthrow of Jerusalem, A.D. 70, had the golden candlestick and the golden table of the shew-bread, the silver trumpets, and the book of the law, taken out of the temple and carried in triumph to Rome; and Vespasian lodged them in the temple which he had consecrated to the goddess of Peace. Some plants also of the balm of Jericho are said to have been carried in the procession. At the foot of Mount Palatine there are the ruins of an arch, on which the triumph of Titus for his conquest of the Jews is represented, and on which the several monuments which were carried in the procession are sculptured, and particularly the golden candlestick, the table of the shew-bread and the two silver trumpets. A correct MODEL of this arch, taken on the spot, now stands before me; and the spoils of the temple, the candlestick, the golden table, and the two trumpets, are represented on the panel on the left hand, in the inside of the arch, in basso-relievo. The candlestick is not so ornamented as it appears in many prints; at the same time it looks much better than it does in the engraving of this arch given by Montfaucon, Antiq. Expliq., vol. iv., pl. 32. It is likely that on the real arch this candlestick is less in size than the original, as it scarcely measures three feet in height. See the Diarium Italicum, p. 129. To see these sacred articles given up by that God who ordered them to be made according to a pattern exhibited by himself, gracing the triumph of a heathen emperor, and at last consecrated to an idol, affords melancholy reflections to a pious mind. But these things had accomplished the end for which they were instituted, and were now of no farther use. The glorious personage typified by all this ancient apparatus, had about seventy years before this made his appearance. The true light was come, and the Holy Spirit poured out from on high; and therefore the golden candlestick, by which they were typified, was given up. The ever-during bread had been sent from heaven; and therefore the golden table, which bore its representative, the shew-bread, was now no longer needful. The joyful sound of the everlasting Gospel was then published in the world; and therefore the silver trumpets that typified this were carried into captivity, and their sound was no more to be heard. Strange providence but unutterable mercy of God! The Jews lost both the sign and the thing signified; and that very people, who destroyed the holy city, carried away the spoils of the temple, and dedicated them to the objects of their idolatry, were the first in the universe to receive the preaching of the Gospel, the light of salvation, and the bread of life! There is a sort of coincidence or association here, which is worthy of the most serious observation. The Jews had these significant emblems to lead them to, and prepare them for, the things signified. They trusted in the former, and rejected the latter! God therefore deprived them of both, and gave up their temple to the spoilers, their land to desolation, and themselves to captivity and to the sword. The heathens then carried away the emblems of their salvation, and God shortly gave unto those heathens that very salvation of which these things were the emblems! Thus because of their unbelief and rebellion, the kingdom of heaven, according to the prediction of our blessed Lord, was taken from the Jews, and given to a nation (the Gentiles) that brought forth the fruits thereof; Mt 21:43. Behold the GOODNESS and SEVERITY of God!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou shalt make, either by thyself, or by some other person whom thou shalt cause to make it.
His shaft; the trunk, or main body of it.
His knops, or, apples, made in form of a pomegranate.
His flowers shall be of the same, to wit, beaten out of the same piece by the hammer. Compare Exo 25:36.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
31. candlestickliterally, “alamp bearer.” It was so constructed as to be capable of beingtaken to pieces for facility in removal. The shaft or stock rested ona pedestal. It had seven branches, shaped like reeds or canesthreeon each side, with one in the centerand worked out into knobs,flowers, and bowls, placed alternately [Ex25:32-36]. The figure represented on the arch of Titus gives thebest idea of this candlestick.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold,…. Another piece of household furniture, and an useful one, especially in a house where there are no windows, as there were none in the tabernacle, denoting the darkness of the legal dispensation, see 2Ki 4:10. This candlestick was set in the holy place, on the south side of it, opposite the shewbread table, Ex 26:35 and was typical of the church of God; so the candlesticks John had a vision of signify seven churches, Re 1:13, the general use of which is, to hold forth light put into it, for it has none of itself, but what is put there by Christ: and this is not the light of nature and reason, nor the law of Moses, but the Gospel of Christ; which where it is set, gives light and dispels darkness; is useful to walk and work by; does not always burn alike, and will shine the brightest in the end of the world: this light is put into the candlestick by Christ the fountain of all light, and from whom all light is communicated, particularly the Gospel; and being put there, lost sinners are looked up by it, strayed ones are brought back, hypocrites are detected, and saints are enlightened, comforted, and refreshed: and this candlestick being made of “pure gold”, may denote the worth and value of the church of God, and the members of it, their splendour, glory, and purity they have from Christ, and their duration; and thus the seven churches of Asia are compared to seven golden candlesticks, Re 1:12, and under the form of a golden candlestick is the Gospel church set forth in Zec 4:2. Josephus b is of opinion the candlestick has some mystical meaning in it, it being of seventy parts, as he says, refers to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, through which the seven planets take their course, whom Milton c follows:
of beaten work shall the candlestick be made; not of gold melted, and poured into a mould, from whence it might take its form; but it was beaten with an hammer out of an entire mass of gold, and not the following parts made separately, and then joined:
his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same; not only of the same metal, but beaten out of the same mass and lump of gold; these are the several parts of the candlestick: the “shaft” is the trunk and body of the candlestick, which stood in the middle of it, and in which the several parts united; and may either be typical of Christ, who is principal and head of the church, and stands in the middle of it, and is the cement of the several parts of it, and is but one, the one head, Mediator and Saviour; or else the church universal, of which particular ones are parts: its “branches” may either signify the several members of churches, who are in Christ as branches, and hold forth the word of light; or else minister, of the Gospel, who have their commission and gifts from him, and are held by him as stars in his right hand; or else particular churches, which are branches of the church universal: its “bowls”, which were to hold oil for the lamps, may denote men of capacity in the churches, full of the gifts and graces of the Spirit, able to teach others also: and the “knops” and “flowers” were for decoration, and may signify the graces of the Spirit, with which private members and believers are adorned; or the gifts of the Spirit with which the ministers of the word are furnished, and appear beautiful, publishing the glad tidings of salvation by Christ.
b Antiq. l. 3. c. 7. sect. 7. c Paradise Lost. B. 12. ver. 254, 255, 256.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(cf. Exo 37:17-24). The Candlestick was to be made of pure gold, “beaten work.” : see Exo 25:18. For the form instead of (which is probably the work of a copyist, who thought the reading should be in the Niphal, as the is wanting in many MSS), see Gesenius, Lehrgeb. p. 52, and Ewald, 83b. “ Of it shall be (i.e., there shall issue from it so as to form one complete whole) its ” (lit., the loins, the upper part of the thigh, which is attached to the body, and from which the feet proceed, – in this case the base or pedestal, upon which the candelabrum stood); its , or reed, i.e., the hollow stem of the candelabrum rising up from the pedestal; – “ its ,” cups, resembling the calix of a flower; – , knobs, in a spherical shape (cf. Amo 9:1; Zep 2:14); – “ and ,” flowers, ornaments in the form of buds just bursting.
Exo 25:32 From the sides of the candlestick, i.e., of the upright stem in the middle, there were to be six branches, three on either side.
Exo 25:33-34 On each of these branches (the repetition of the same words expresses the distributive sense) there were to be “ three cups in the form of an almond-flower, (with) knob and flower, ” and on the shaft of the candlestick, or central stem, “ four cups in the form of almond-flowers, its knobs and its flowers.” As both (Exo 25:33) and (Exo 25:34) are connected with the previous words without a copula, Knobel and Thenius regard these words as standing in explanatory apposition to the preceding ones, and suppose the meaning to be that the flower-cups were to consist of knobs with flowers issuing from them. But apart from the singular idea of calling a knob or bulb with a flower bursting from it a flower-cup, Exo 25:31 decidedly precludes any such explanation; for cups, knobs, and flowers are mentioned there in connection with the base and stem, as three separate things which were quite as distinct the one from the other as the base and the stem. The words in question are appended in both verses to in the sense of subordination; is generally used in such cases, but it is omitted here before , probably to avoid ambiguity, as the two words to be subordinated are brought into closer association as one idea by the use of this copula. And if and are to be distinguished from , the objection made by Thenius to our rendering “almond-blossom-shaped,” namely, that neither the almond nor the almond-blossom has at all the shape of a basin, falls entirely to the ground; and there is all the less reason to question this rendering, on account of the unanimity with which it has been adopted in the ancient versions, whereas the rendering proposed by Thenius, “wakened up, i.e., a burst or opened calix,” has neither foundation nor probability.
Exo 25:35 “ and every pipe under the two branches shall be out from them (be connected with them) for the six (side) pipes going out from the candlestick; ” i.e., at the point where the three pairs of the six side pipes or arms branched off from the main pipe or stem of the candlestick, a knob should be so placed that the arms should proceed from the knob, or from the main stem immediately above the knob.
Exo 25:36-37 “ Their knobs and their pipes (i.e., the knobs and pipes of the three pairs of arms) shall be of it (the candlestick, i.e., combined with it so as to form one whole), all one (one kind of) beaten work, pure gold.” From all this we get the following idea of the candlestick: Upon the vase there rose an upright central pipe, from which three side pies branched out one above another on either side, and curved upwards in the form of a quadrant to the level of the central stem. On this stem a calix and a knob and blossom were introduced four separate times, and in such a manner that there was a knob wherever the side pipes branched off from the main stem, evidently immediately below the branches; and the fourth knob, we may suppose, was higher up between the top branches and the end of the stem. As there were thus four calices with a knob and blossom in the main stem, so again there were three in each of the branches, which were no doubt placed at equal distances from one another. With regard to the relative position of the calix, the knob, and the blossom, we may suppose that the spherical knob was underneath the calix, and that the blossom sprang from the upper edge of the latter, as if bursting out of it. The candlestick had thus seven arms, and seven lights or lamps were to be made and placed upon them ( ). “ And they (all the lamps) are to give light upon the opposite side of its front ” (Exo 25:37): i.e., the lamp was to throw its light upon the side that was opposite to the front of the candlestick. The of the candlestick (Exo 25:37 and Num 8:2) was the front shown by the seven arms, as they formed a straight line with their seven points; and does not mean the side, but the opposite side, as is evident from Num 8:2, where we find instead. As the place assigned to the candlestick was on the south side of the dwelling-place, we are to understand by this opposite side the north, and imagine the lamp to be so placed that the line of lamps formed by the seven arms ran from front to back, by which arrangement the holy place would be better lighted, than if the candlestick had stood with the line of lamps from south to north, and so had turned all its seven lamps towards the person entering the holy place. The lamps were the receptacles for the wick and oil, which were placed on the top of the arms, and could be taken down to be cleaned. The hole from which the wick projected was not made in the middle, but at the edge, so that the light was thrown upon one side.
Exo 25:38 The other things belonging to the candlestick were tongs (Isa 6:6), i.e., snuffers, and snuff-dishes, i.e., dishes to receive the snuff when taken from the wicks; elsewhere the word signifies an ash-pan, or vessel used for taking away the coal from the fire (Exo 27:3; Lev 16:12; Num 17:3.).
Exo 25:39-40 “ Of a talent of pure gold (i.e., 822,000 Parisian grains) shall he make it (the candlestick) and all these vessels, ” i.e., according to Exo 37:24, all the vessels belonging to the candlestick. From this quantity of gold it was possible to make a candlestick of very considerable size. The size is not given anywhere in the Old Testament, but, according to Bhr’s conjecture, it corresponded to the height of the table of shew-bread, namely, a cubit and a half in height and the same in breadth, or a cubit and a half between the two outside lamps.
The signification of the seven-armed candlestick is apparent from its purpose, viz., to carry seven lamps, which were trimmed and filled with oil every morning, and lighted every evening, and were to burn throughout the night (Exo 27:20-21; Exo 30:7-8; Lev 24:3-4). As the Israelites were to prepare spiritual food in the shew-bread in the presence of Jehovah, and to offer continually the fruit of their labour in the field of the kingdom of God, as a spiritual offering to the Lord; so also were they to present themselves continually to Jehovah in the burning lamps, as the vehicles and media of light, as a nation letting its light shine in the darkness of this world (cf. Mat 5:14, Mat 5:16; Luk 12:35; Phi 2:15). The oil, through which the lamps burned and shone, was, according to its peculiar virtue in imparting strength to the body and restoring vital power, a representation of the Godlike spirit, the source of all the vital power of man; whilst the oil, as offered by the congregation of Israel, and devoted to sacred purposes according to the command of God, is throughout the Scriptures a symbol of the Spirit of God, by which the congregation of God was tilled with higher light and life. By the power of this Spirit, Israel, in covenant with the Lord, was to let its light shine, the light of its knowledge of God and spiritual illumination, before all the nations of the earth. In its seven arms the stamp of the covenant relationship was impressed upon the candlestick; and the almond-blossom with which it was ornamented represented the seasonable offering of the flowers and fruits of the Spirit, the almond-tree deriving its name from the fact that it is the earliest of all the trees in both its blossom and its fruit (cf. Jer 1:11-12). The symbolical character of the candlestick is clearly indicated in the Scriptures. The prophet Zechariah (Zec 4:1-14) sees a golden candlestick with seven lamps and two olive-trees, one on either side, from which the oil-vessel is supplied; and the angel who is talking with him informs him that the olive-trees are the two sons of oil, that is to say, the representatives of the kingdom and priesthood, the divinely appointed organs through which the Spirit of God was communicated to the covenant nation. And in Rev 1:20, the seven churches, which represent the new people of God, i.e., the Christian Church, are shown to the holy seer in the form of seven candlesticks standing before the throne of God. – On Exo 25:40, see at Exo 25:9.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
31 And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. 32 And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: 33 Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. 34 And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. 35 And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. 36 Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. 37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. 38 And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. 39 Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. 40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount.
I. The next thing ordered to be made for the furnishing of God’s palace was a rich stately candlestick, all of pure gold, not hollow, but solid. The particular directions here given concerning it show, 1. That it was very magnificent, and a great ornament to the place; it had many branches drawn from the main shaft, which had not only their bowls (to put the oil and the kindled wick in) for necessity, but knops and flowers for ornament. 2. That it was very convenient, and admirably contrived both to scatter the light and to keep the tabernacle clean from smoke and snuffs. 3. That it was very significant. The tabernacle had no windows by which to let in the light of the day, all its light was candle-light, which intimates the comparative darkness of that dispensation, while the Sun or righteousness had not as yet risen, nor had the day-star from on high yet visited his church. Yet God left not himself without witness, nor them without instruction; the commandment was a lamp, and the law a light, and the prophets were branches from that lamp, which gave light in their several ages to the Old-Testament church. The church is still dark, as the tabernacle was, in comparison with what it will be in heaven; but the word of God is the candlestick, a light shining in a dark place (2 Pet. i. 19), and a dark place indeed the world would be without it. The Spirit of God, in his various gifts and graces, is compared to the seven lamps which burn before the throne, Rev. iv. 5. The churches are golden candlesticks, the lights of the world, holding forth the word of life as the candlestick does the light, Phi 2:15; Phi 2:16. Ministers are to light the lamps, and snuff them (v. 37), by opening the scriptures. The treasure of this light is now put into earthen vessels,2Co 4:6; 2Co 4:7. The branches of the candlestick spread every way, to denote the diffusing of the light of the gospel into all parts by the Christian ministry, Mat 5:14; Mat 5:15. There is a diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit gives to each to profit withal.
II. There is in the midst of these instructions an express caution given to Moses, to take heed of varying from his model: Make them after the pattern shown thee, v. 40. Nothing was left to his own invention, or the fancy of the workmen, or the people’s humour; but the will of God must be religiously observed in every particular. Thus, 1. All God’s providences are exactly according to his counsels, and the copy never varies from the original. Infinite Wisdom never changes its measures; whatever is purposed shall undoubtedly be performed. 2. All his ordinances must be administered according to his institutions. Christ’s instruction to his disciples (Matt. xxviii. 20) is similar to this: Observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 31-40:
“Candlestick” menorah, “place of light;” Setp. luchnia, “lampstand.” The size of the lampstand is not given. However, its weight, along with the various utensils, is given as “a talent.” In today’s terms, this was about 75.5 pounds, 906 ounces troy weight. It was not cast, but hammered or beaten, as were the cherubim on the mercy seat.
“Shaft” yarek, the base and central stem of the lampstand. There were six “branches” extending from this shaft, three on either side. Each branch was decorated with a “bowl” or cup shaped like an almond flower; a “knop” pahptor, a knob or bulb, likely representing a pomegranate fruit; and “flower” or lily blossom or lotus.
Each branch had three almond-shaped cups in succession, then a pomegranate and a lily-flower. The text describes the ornamentation of two branches, then notes that the remainder are similar. In the central shaft’ were twelve ornaments, the series of cup, knop, flower repeated four times; once in connection with each of the branches, and the fourth at the top of the stem.
The “seven lamps” were likely bowl-shaped vessels which fitted into the petals of the lily flower on each branch.
The lamps were to be lighted each evening at sunset (Ex 27:21; 30:8; Le 24:3). They were to burn all night, and be extinguished each morning, and “dressed” or trimmed (Ex 30:7).
“Tongs,” were used to trim the wicks of the lamps “Snuff dishes,” were used to extinguish the lamp.
The “pattern” for the Tabernacle and its furnishing were shown to Moses “in the mount,” v. 9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
31. And thou shalt make a candlestick. God would have seven bright lamps burning day and night in the Tabernacle: first, that the people might know that they were directed by God Himself as to how they were to worship Him aright, and that a light was set before their eyes which might disperse all the darkness of error; and, secondly, lest they should obscure the very worship of God with their gross inventions, but that, intent on the instruction of the Law, they might with a pure and enlightened mind seek after God in all the ceremonies. Let us, therefore, remark a distinction here set forth between the rule of true religion and the superstitions of the Gentiles; because the Gentiles were carried away by their foolish and blind devotions, as they call them, into circuitous and erring ways, so that nothing was straight in them; for unless we have divine teaching to enlighten us, our own reason will beget nothing but mere vanity. But it was not enough for the Israelites that the right way should be pointed out, unless their eyes were open to direct them, since men sometimes are blind in the very midst of light. And this occurred to themselves not only when they went astray into strange and adulterous worships, for though they held fast the external form of the Law, they were, nevertheless, degenerate; and religion was corrupted among them by foul superstitions, when, in obedience to their carnal reason, they conceived that religion consisted in ceremonies. For when God is not worshipped spiritually according to His nature, this is to travesty Him. Hence there was so much security in the hypocrites, that they proudly despised all the reproofs of the Prophets, nay, that they broke out into open fury whenever their empty pomps were condemned. But the candlestick, shining with its seven lights, reminded the people that, in their worship of God, they should look attentively to the light of heavenly doctrine.
But, for the understanding of this type, the vision of Zechariah will be no slight assistance to us, since the truth of this symbol is there set forth. (Zec 4:2.) God there promises that the power of His Spirit will alone avail, and more than avail, for the preservation of His Church, although it may be destitute of all other aid. To awaken confidence in this, He represents the same image of a candlestick which is here described, with the addition of some other circumstances, whereby He reminds us that the shining lights were no vain show like stage plays, but that in the candlestick was represented what believers would really experience to take place. But, that the comparison may be made clearer, we must say a little respecting this passage. The material of the candlestick is pure gold, whereby the excellency of the thing signified is denoted. But, when we have spoken somewhat of its form, the application of Zechariah’s prophecy will be more manifest. Some parts of it were merely for ornament, that its dignity might be increased by its very appearance, such as the flowers and the balls or knops; others for use, as the bowls or receptacles, to prevent the sacred oil from falling on the ground. The lamps were placed at the top, that the Israelites might know that men are surrounded with darkness on earth, if God did not enlighten His Church from on high, and that by day and by night. Thus Isaiah, describing the kingdom of Christ, in which the reality of this sign was at length exhibited, says, — “Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” And again,
“Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thy everlasting light.” (Isa 60:2.)
Now, since God is called the Father of lights, the grace of illumination resides in the Spirit; and since a variety of gifts are distributed by the Spirit, there were seven lamps which visibly represented what Paul says, —
“The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” (1Co 12:7.)
Some, however, have gratuitously invented a mystery in the number seven, whence the common notion (136) among the Papists about the sevenfold grace of the Spirit, which is refuted both by the above-cited passage of St. Paul and the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, where a greater number of gifts are enumerated. I suppose rather that perfection is denoted by the seven lamps according to the ordinary and acknowledged use (of the figure); as if God thus declared that nothing would be wanting for the full enlightenment of believers, who should seek it from its one and only source; secondly, that the Spirit presides over all religious rites when He shines forth to the Church in His gifts. Now, the Prophet, (Zec 4:2,) desiring to teach that what had been shewn forth in this visible symbol would be fulfilled in the restoration of the Church, adds to the lamps seven pipes and two olive-trees, from whence oil would continually flow, so that there was no fear of want or failure. Thus he signifies that God is possessed of a manifold abundance of blessings for the enrichment of the Church; and so that the virtue which flows down from heaven is sufficient for its preservation, according to what is added in connection,
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” (Zec 4:6.)
For although God uses the ministry of men and earthly means at His discretion for the protection and maintenance of the Church, yet He would have, as is just, all the praise ascribed to Himself; whilst He would also have believers to be contented under His guardianship, and not to be discouraged although they should find no ground of confidence in the world.
(136) The seven gifts of the Holy Ghost are represented in Roman Catholic Catechisms to be, — 1. Wisdom; 2. Understanding; 3. Counsel; 4. Fortitude; 5. Knowledge; 6. Godliness; 7. The fear of the Lord: founded, of course, on Isa 11:2. Augustin says, Sermo 8, (Edit. Ben., tom. 5, p. 46,) speaking of the Holy Spirit, “ Ipse requiescit super humilem et quietum, tanquam in Sabbato suo. Ad hoc septenarius numerus etiam Sancto Spiritui deputatur, hoc Scripturae nostrae satis indicant. Viderint meliora meliores, et majora majores; et de isto septenario numero subtilius aliquid et divinius aliquid dicant et explicent: ego tamen, quod in presenti sat est, illud video, illud vos ad videndum commemoro, septenariam istam rationem inveniri proprie Sancto Spiritui deputatam; quia; septimo die sonat sanctificatio,” etc.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Exo. 25:31-40
THE CANDLESTICK
Christ is the light of the world, and His Church is the lamp-holder, the light-bearer. What does the candlestick teach in respect to the Christian Church?
I. The necessity of purity, if the Church is to diffuse the knowledge of Christ.
1. The candlestick must be of pure gold, Exo. 25:31. Again, Exo. 25:36, an impure Church cannot keep the light, and diffuse the light (Rev. 2:5). Here the Ephesian Church is warned that if they do not repent and amend, the light that is in them shall become darkness. An impure ministry cannot shed this light long. And, personally, if we are to be evangelists we must be pure.
2. The Church must be really pure. Of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, Exo. 25:31. It was to be solid, not hollow. The goodness of the Church, the minister, &c., must not be formal and ceremonial, but real and heart-felt.
3. And the lowest workers and instruments for Christ must be holy. Tongs and snuff dishes must be of pure gold. We are taught
II. The grand mission of the Church of Christ. It is a candlestickits great mission is to diffuse light. We see sometimes all pains taken with the candlestickin its ornamentation, &c.,and it is forgotten that the end of a candlestick is to give light. A church is grand architecturally, but what of that if it is not a light-giving centre? A ministry is eloquent, but what of that if it does not shed the clearer light which leads us to the Lamb? Exo. 25:37. We are reminded
III. That the Church must declare the whole counsel of God as made known in Jesus Christ. The candlestick was seven-branched, Exo. 25:32. There is completeness and fulness of light in Christ, and the Church must seek to set forth fully the manifold light of the Gospel. On matters of belief and matters of duty, our relations to God and man, body and soul, this world and the next. Let nothing deter us from making known the whole counsel of God.
We are reminded
IV. Of the beautiful fruits which will spring forth under the shining of Christian truth, Exo. 25:33-35. Flowers and pomegranates. Beautiful flowers and sweet fruits are the creations of the light. Thus, if the Church is faithful, the wilderness around her shall bloom. We are reminded
V. Of the constant vigilance which the Church must exercise to keep the truth undimmed. In Exo. 25:38 we read of tongs and snuff-dishes. Let us watch, and carefully remove whatever would dim the shining of the light of Christ. Discipline in the Church; discipline in ourselves.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Exo. 25:31-40. The candlestick of pure gold comes next in order, for Gods priests need light as well as food; and they have both the one and the other in Christ. In this candlestick there is no mention of anything but pure gold. All of it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. The seven lamps which gave light over against the candlestick, express the perfection of the light and energy of the Spirit, founded upon and connected with the, perfect efficacy of the work of Christ. The work of the Holy Ghost can never be separated from the work of Christ.
C. H. M.
Moreover, it is not a partial statement even of Divine truth that will suffice for the edification of the Church or of the nation. Not one or more of the seven lamps of the seven-branched candlestick must burn apart from others: all must burn together, and send their commingled blaze in combined and united radiancy around her holy place. A mutilated Bible, or a book of garbled extracts in the place of the Bible, ought to be the wonder and the grief of Christendom.W. Mudge.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON
Typology! Exo. 25:1-40. If you hold up your hand between the candle and the wall, what do you see? That shadow of your hand is not, however, of the same size and colour. It is only an outline. Holding up some beautiful object which we have never seen before, its shadow would give but a feeble impression of itself. So Heb. 10:1 says, that the Law had a shadow of good things to come. Those good things have come; and
Man has gazed on heavenly secrets,
Sunned himself in heavenly glow;
Seen the glory, heard the music,
We are wiser than we know.
Mackay.
Candlestick! Exo. 25:31.
1. Macduff says that this unquestionably denotes the Church of Christ, just as do the golden candlesticks in Revelation
2. There, we are taken back to the sacred furnitureto the one candlestick with its branches or lamps. We are also reminded of the similar beautiful and suggestive vision of the prophet Zechariah, when he saw the candlestick all of gold, with its seven lamps, fed from the upper reservoir of holy olive oil, in Exo. 4:2. The priest attending to its lamps symbolises Jesus, the great High Priest. In Revelation
3. He is represented as moving in their midst, their common bond of union. It is no longer one planet, but a system, of which He is the glorious sun and centre. The light of the world is Christ. No candlestick, no Church shines of itself; from Him its light emanates.
Come nearer, Sun of Righteousness! that we,
Whose swift short hours of day so swiftly run,
So overflowed with love and light, may be
So lost in glory of the nearing Sun,
That not our light, but Thine, the world may see,
New praise to Thee through our poor lives be won.
Havergal.
Candlestick-Branches! Exo. 25:32.
(1.) Elliot says that the seven branches were removable from the central chandelier; perhaps to typify how, under the Gospel Dispensation, the Church would lose the form of visible unity that it had possessed under the Jewish, and be scattered in its different branches over the world.
(2.) Law, on the other hand, says that Christ is the seven-lamped candlestick, and that the holy place wherein it shone, symbolises that heavenly home in which Christ is the full light. The Lamb is the light thereof (Rev. 21:23). The branches shine as clustered trees of fruit and flowers, to indicate the exquisite loveliness and surpassing fruitfulness of Christ.
(3.) Trench says that the Jewish tabernacle lamp was symbolic of the Church of God in its relation to the kingdom and economy of Israel. That ancient Church for ages stood alone in the earth as the Divine lightgiver. But no sooner did the Jewish Dispensation cease, than the tabernacle lamp-branches were separated into lamps, to signify the essential unity, though external diversity of the Church.
And so the Church of Jesus Christ,
The blessed Banyan of our God,
Fast rooted upon Zions mount,
Has sent its sheltering arms abroad;
And every branch that from it springs,
In sacred beauty spreading wide
As low it bends to bless the earth,
Still plants another by its side.
Anon.
Candlestick-Beam! Exo. 25:37.
(1.) The sevenfold branches support sevenfold lamps. Each summit is a coronet of fire. Little would be the profit of the costly frame unless light sparkled from it. But its special purpose is to burnto lighten the darkness that otherwise would shroud the holy place of the Church. And the mystic number, as well as the constant blaze, speak to the Church that her light should ever shine a perfect light.
(2.) The ancient insignia of the Waldensian Church was a candlestick, with a light shedding its rays across the surrounding darkness, and encircled with seven stars and the motto, Lux lucet in tenebris. As the light of Christ shines in the darkness of the Church, so the Church thus enlightened shines in the darkness of the world. Ye are the light of the world.
(3.) Every believer shines in a world lying in darkness; therefore he should guard and tend his light, not only to lead himself, but all whom he can influence from the outer darkness of the world to the marvellous light of heaven. If the light in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! It is a total eclipse within and withouta blackness of darkness for ever.
He that hides a dark soul, and foul thoughts,
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun)
Himself is his own dungeon.
Milton.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(31) Of beaten work.Like the cherubim. (See Note on Exo. 25:18.)
His bowls, his knops, and his flowers.Rather, its cups, its pomegranates, and its blossoms. The cups are afterwards said to be like almonds (Exo. 25:33), i.e., almond blossoms.
Shall be of the samei.e., of one piece with the stem and branches; not separate ornaments put together.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK.
(31-39) The golden candlestick, like the table of shewbread, was represented on the Arch of Titus, and the careful copy made under the direction of Reland in 1710, and published in his work, De Spoliis Templi, gives probably the best idea that can be formed of it. It was composed of a straight stem, rising perpendicularly from a base, and having on either side of it three curved arms or branches, all of them in the same plane, and all rising to the same level. The stem and arms were ornamented with representations of almond flowers, pomegranates, and lily blossoms, repeated as there was room for them, the top ornament being in every case a lily blossom, which held a hemispherical lamp. The form and ornamentation of the base are unknown, since the representation of the base upon the Arch of Titus is manifestly from some Roman work which had superseded the original pedestal. The special object of the candlestick seems to have been to give light by night. Its lamps were to be lighted at even (Exo. 30:8) by the High Priest, and were to burn from evening to morning (Exo. 27:21), when they were to be dressed, or trimmed (Exo. 30:7), and extinguished (Kalisch, Comment, on Exodus, p. 370). The Holy Place had sufficient light during the day from the entrance, where the curtain would let the light through, if indeed it were not also partially looped up.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK, Exo 25:31-40.
31. A candlestick This is to be thought of as an elaborately constructed lampstand, furnishing places for seven lamps, (Exo 25:37. ) Like the cherubim it consisted of beaten work, (comp. Exo 25:18,) that is, elaborately wrought by some hand process.
Shaft Rather, the base, or pedestal.
Branches Rather, the main stem or shaft, rising up from the pedestal,
Bowls These appear to have been the flower-shaped cups into which the spherical knops, next mentioned, were set, and both the cups and the knops were further connected with flowers, or blossoms, all together serving the purpose of ornamentation. All these were to be wrought out of one and the same piece, so as to form a complete whole.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Golden Lampstand ( Exo 25:31-40 ).
The making of this may be analysed as follows:
a The lampstand to be made of beaten work of pure gold: its base, its shaft its cups, its buds and its flowers, all made of one piece with it (Exo 25:31).
b As well as the shaft it has to have six branches going out from it, three each side of the shaft, with cups made like almond blossoms , a bud and a flower. The shaft to have four cups, made like almond blossoms with the buds and flowers (Exo 25:32-34).
c The description of the buds on the branches (Exo 25:35).
c The making of the buds and the branches in pure beaten gold (Exo 25:36).
b The total of lamps are to be seven (the shaft and the six branches) and they shall light its lamps to give light opposite to it (illuminating the table of showbread), and these are to be made along with the tongs and fire-holders of pure gold (Exo 25:37-38).
a The whole is to be made of a talent of pure gold in accordance with the pattern shown in the mount (Exo 25:39-40).
Note that in ‘a’ the lampstand is to be of pure beaten gold, and in the parallel the gold required for it and all connected with it is measured. In ‘b’ we have the description of the lampstand with its six branches and its shaft, while in the parallel we are told it is sevenfold, and is to be lit to shine on the table of showbread (compare Num 6:25 with Exo 8:3). In ‘c’ we have details of the making of buds and branches.
Exo 25:31-34
“And you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand will be made of beaten work, even its base and its shaft. And its cups, its buds and its flowers shall be of one piece with it. And there will be six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of its one side and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side. Three cups made like almond blossoms on one branch, each with a bud and a flower. And three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, each with a bud and a flower. Thus for the six branches going out of the lampstand. And in the lampstand four cups made like almond blossoms with its buds and its flowers.”
The general pattern is clear, a central shaft from which will go from each side three branches per side, a main stem and six branches in all making a sevenfold lampstand. And at the top of the branches and the shaft will be cups made like almonds blossoms to receive the lamps. It would seem that each branch had three cups and the central shaft four. The lampstand was to one side of the Holy Place, the table of showbread to the other.
Exo 25:35-36
“And a bud under a pair of branches, of one piece with it, and a bud under a pair of branches, of one piece with it, and a bud under a pair of branches, of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the lampstand. Their buds and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it one beaten work of pure gold.”
Under each pair of branches there is an almond bud and the buds and branches are specifically to be of one piece with the whole. Thus one significance of the lampstand is that, with its branches and its almond buds and flowers, it symbolises an almond tree. The almond tree (shaked) was ‘the waker’, the first tree to come to life and blossom after the dry season. So it is a symbol of new life, the new life into which Israel has entered. Furthermore in Jer 1:11-12 the almond tree also symbolises the watching (shoked) of Yahweh over His word. Thus it symbolises His watch over the covenant.
Exo 25:37
“And you shall make its lamps seven, and they will light its lamps to give light over against it.”
The seven lamps, possibly made of terracotta, symbolise divinely perfect light. ‘Over against it’ presumably means that they are set to throw their light forward towards the centre. Thus the lampstand speaks of life (the almond tree) and light (the fire in the lamps) coming from God. This is why Jesus could speak of the ‘light of life’ in relation to it (Joh 8:12). That was during the Feast of Tabernacles and the lampstand was closely connected with that feast.
In Zechariah the lampstand (Zechariah 4) signifies the all-knowingness of God (Zec 4:10) and the presence of the living God feeding life to His anointed ones. Just as a man’s life was often called his ‘lamp’ (Job 21:17; Pro 20:20; Pro 24:20 see also 2Sa 21:17; 1Ki 11:36), and the lampstand, once removed, signified the death of the church (Rev 2:5), so the lampstand represents spiritual life. Thus the lampstand represents the living God, ‘the Lord of the whole earth’, fully present and fully aware behind the veil, in His giving of that life to His people.
So in the Most Holy Place is the throne of God between the guardian Cherubim, who continually bow before Him, which no man can behold, but which can be approached from behind a veil which safeguards man from the awesomeness of His presence, and in the Holy Place are the Table of Showbread and the golden Lampstand which represent His feeding of His people, both physically and spiritually, and His giving of life and light to them. We learn both of His total ‘otherness’ which cannot be experienced in its fullness, and of His gracious giving of Himself to His people.
In the Book of Revelation we have the expansion of this when one day His own will walk openly in the light of His presence, and will enjoy the light of God and will feast on the tree of life (Rev 21:22 to Rev 22:5).
Exo 25:38-39
“And its tongs and its fire-holders shall be of pure gold. With all these vessels it shall be made with one talent of pure gold.”
The lampstand and its appurtenances are to be made of a talent of gold, that is about thirty kilogrammes. ‘Fireholders.’ The significance of the word is uncertain. They possibly received the old wicks when they were removed from the lamps.
Exo 25:40
“And see that you make them after their pattern, which has been showed to you in the Mount.”
This verse finalises the details of the three most important pieces of furniture to be placed in the new Dwelling-place, referring back to verse 9. Each is important and they are important as a unit. They represent different aspects of Yahweh’s covenant with His people, firstly, the reign of Yahweh and the covenant requirements, secondly, the giving of life and light by Yahweh and His guarantee of bread, and thirdly their receiving by it (for it represented all that they needed) of all that they needed for the future.
It is stressed that they must follow the pattern shown to Moses which demonstrates that the detail was vital. Nothing must be added. Nothing must be changed. They speak of heavenly things. That they are spoken of first and separately shows how very important all three were seen to be. (The altar of incense is not mentioned here because that represented worship from man to God, whereas the above furniture was from God to man).
Notes on the Christian significance of this passage.
In the New Testament it is made clear that the Dwellingplace was no longer a tent. Paul could say to all true believers, ‘we are a sanctuary of the living God, even as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” ’ (2Co 6:16-17). And again in 1Co 3:9 ; 1Co 3:16-17, ‘You are God’s husbandry, God’s building — do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you — the temple of God is holy, which temple you are’. For God would tabernacle among His people, first in Jesus Christ (Joh 1:14) and then by His Holy Spirit in His people (Eph 2:22). In 1Co 6:19 each Christian is therefore a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit within the whole sanctuary. The significance that can be drawn from this is that we are indwelt by God and by Christ (Gal 2:20; Joh 17:22-23; Eph 3:17, and that therefore our inner lives with their outward expression must be worthy of Him. Daily as we go out to meet the world we must each say to ourselves, ‘the only way the world will know about God and about Christ is what they see of Him in me, for I am where He dwells in this sinful world, I am the one through whom He is to be made known. Lord, live out your life through me today that men may see through the purity of my life that Jesus Christ still walks among them’.
Furthermore men once gazed at the ancient Sanctuary and were comforted by the thought that God was close to them, dwelling among them. That is what they should sense also when they look on God’s true people, the church of the living God, a people vibrant and joyful and full of actively revealed concern because they follow the Master. But sadly often all they see is a church wrapped up in itself.
The fact that we all make up one sanctuary stresses the unity and fellowship that there should be between all who truly love Christ. All contribute to the whole, and without a part the church is mutilated.
The Ark of the covenant within the Dwellingplace is a reminder that God Himself dwells in us (as God’s dwellingplace), that Christ lives within us and seeks to live out His life through us (Gal 2:20; Rom 6:4). There in our heart of hearts is the living Christ (Eph 3:17) Who reigns in us so that we might reign through Him (Rev 5:10), and through Whom we should know the love of Christ which passes all knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fulness of God (Eph 3:19). Thus we are to reckon ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God, in Jesus Christ (Rom 6:11). But how easily we forget that it is so, and just as the people of old tended to overlook the significance of the Tabernacle in their daily lives, so sadly do we as we leave our houses each day. We keep God locked in the throne room, while we control our own affairs. Some have seen in the Ark a picture of Jesus Christ as both God (gold) and man (acacia wood).
The Table of Showbread reminds us that Christ is the bread of life (Joh 6:35). That we who eat of Him by believing in Him will live for ever. He is the living bread that came down from heaven that we might live and not die (Joh 6:51). Thus do we pray, ‘give us today the bread of the great Tomorrow’. And as we look to Him He feeds us with His very life.
The Lampstand is a reminder that Christ constantly shines in our hearts revealing His truth and revealing God (2Co 4:6), that God’s great light shines on His people Who are ever before Him, and that through knowing Christ Who is the light we do not walk in darkness. And it is a reminder too that we are to be a light to the world (Mat 5:16; Rev 1:12-13). The one who is a true Christian walks daily in that light (1Jn 1:7), and comes constantly to the light that his deeds may be open to God’s scrutiny (Joh 3:18 ff).
But it also has a heavenly significance. For the Dwellingplace is a reminder that God is in heaven where He dwells (Heb 8:1-2) and that we may approach Him through our Lord Jesus Christ Who is out great High Priest (Heb 9:11-12) Who makes propitiation for us (Heb 2:17). We can therefore enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which He has prepared for us through His becoming man and offering up His flesh for us (Heb 10:19-20), and thus we can obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And there dwells God in unapproachable light Whom no man has seen nor can see (1Ti 6:16). Although one day all who are truly His will dwell in that light (Rev 21:23-24). And there we shall feed on Him for ever (Rev 7:17).
End of note.
The Candlestick and the Holy Vessels
v. 31. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold; of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, v. 32. And six branches shall come out of the sides of It, three branches of the candlestick out of the one side and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side, v. 33. Three bowls made like unto almonds, v. 34. And in the candlestick, in the central shaft, shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers, v. 35. And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, v. 36. Their knops and their branches shall be of the same, v. 37. And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof; and they shall light the lamps thereof, v. 38. And the tongs thereof, the snuffers, and the snulf-dishes thereof, v. 39. of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, v. 40. And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount. EXPOSITION
THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK (Exo 25:31-40). Though the holy of holies was always dark, unless when lighted by. the glory of God (Exo 40:34, Exo 40:35), the holy place, in which many of the priests’ functions were to be performed, was to be always kept light. In the day-time sufficient light entered from the porch in front; but, as evening drew on, some artificial illumination was required. In connection with this object, the golden candlestick, or rather lamp-stand, was designed, which, together with its appurtenances, is described in the remainder of the chapter.
Exo 25:31
A candlestick. The golden candlestick is figured upon the Arch of Titus, and appears by that representation to have consisted of an upright shaft, from which three curved branches were carried out on either side, all of them in the same plane. It stands there on an octagonal pedestal, in two stages, ornamented with figures of birds and sea-monsters. This pedestal is, however, clearly Roman work, and no part of the original. Of beaten work. Not cast, but fashioned by the hand, like the cherubim (verse 18). His shaft. Rather, “its base” (literally “flank”). His branches. Our version follows the Septuagint; but the Hebrew noun is in the singular number, and seems to designate the upright stem, or shaft. The “branches are not mentioned till verse 32, where the same noun is used in the plural. His bowls, his knops, and his flowers. Rather, “its cups, its pomegranates, and its lilies.” The “cups” are afterwards likened to almond flowers (verse 33); they formed the first ornament on each branch; above them was a representation of the pomegranate fruit; above this a lily blossom. The lily-blossoms supported the lamps, which were separate (verse 37). The remainder were of one piece with the candlestick.
Exo 25:32
Six branches. The representation on the Arch of Titus exactly agrees with this description. It was a peculiarity of the “candlestick,” as compared with other candelabra, that all the branches were in the same plane.
Exo 25:33
Three bowls made like unto almonds. Cups shaped like almond blossoms seem to be intended. Each branch had three of these in succession, then a pomegranate and a lily-flower. The lily probably represented the Egyptian lotus, or water-lily. In the other branch. Rather, “on another branch.” There were six branches, not two only. The ornamentation of two is described; then we are told that the remainder were similar.
Exo 25:34
In the candlestick: i.e; in the central shaft or stem, which is viewed as “the candlestick” par excellence. Here were to be twelve ornaments, the series of cup, pomegranate, and lily being repeated four times, once in connection with each pair of branches, and a fourth time at the summit.
Exo 25:35
A knop under two branches of the same. The branches were to quit the stem at the point of junction between the pomegranate (knop) and the lily.
Exo 25:36
All it. Rather, “all of it.” Shall be one beaten work. Compare Exo 25:31
Exo 25:37
The seven lamps. The lamps are not described. They appear by the representation on the Arch of Titus to have been hemispherical bowls on a stand, which fitted into the lily-blossom wherewith each of the seven branches terminated. They shall light the lamps. The lamps were lighted every evening at sunset (Exo 27:21; Exo 30:8; Le Exo 24:3, etc.), and burnt till morning, when the High Priest extinguished them and “dressed” them (Exo 30:7). That they may give light over against it. The candlestick was placed on the southern side of the holy place, parallel to the wall, the seven lamps forming a row. The light was consequently shed strongly on the opposite, or northern wall, where the table of show-bread stood.
Exo 25:38
The tongs thereof. Tongs or pincers were required for trimming the wicks of the lamps. Compare 1Ki 7:49; 2Ch 4:21. Snuff-dishes were also needed for the reception of the fragments removed from the wicks by the tongs. “Snuffers,” though the word is used in Exo 27:1-21 :23, in the place of tongs, had not been indented, and were indeed unknown to the ancients.
Exo 25:39
Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it. The candlestick, with all its appurtenances, was to weigh exactly a talent of gold. The value of the Hebrew gold talent is supposed to have been between 10,000l. and 11,000l. of our money.
Exo 25:40
Their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount. Compare Exo 25:9, and the comment ad loc. It would seem from this passage that the “patterns” were shown to Moses first, and the directions as to the making given afterwards.
HOMILETICS
Exo 25:31-40
The symbolism of the candlestick.
The light which illuminated the darkness of the tabernacle can represent nothing but the Holy Spirit of God, which illuminates the dark places of the earth and the recesses of the heart of man. That the light was sevenfold is closely analogous to the representation of the Holy Spirit in the Revelation of St. John, where there are said to be “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God” (Rev 4:5). It is generally allowed that these “seven spirits” represent the one indivisible but sevenfold Spirit, who imparts of his sevenfold gifts to men. Seven is, in fact, one of the numbers which express perfection and completeness; and a sevenfold light is merely a light which is full and ample, which irradiates sufficiently all that it is designed to throw light upon. The light from the golden candlestick especially irradiated the opposite wall of the tabernacle where the table of shew-bread was set, showing how the offerings of the natural man require to be steeped in the radiance of the Spirit of God in order to be an acceptable gift to the Almighty. We may see
I. IN THE PURE GOLD OF THE CANDLESTICK THE SPOTLESS PERFECTION OF HIM, WHOSE EMBLEM IS THE INNOCENT DOVEWHO IS “THE SPIRIT OF PURITY.” The pure light of the refined olive oil, and the pure gold of the candlestick were in harmony. Both indicated alike the Spirit’s awful holiness. Both taught the presence of One, who was “of purer eyes then to behold iniquity.”
II. IN THE SIMPLE YET BEAUTIFUL ORNAMENTATION OF ALMOND BUDS, AND POMEGRANATES, AND LILIES, WE MAY SEE THE DELIGHT OF THE SPIRIT IN ALL THINGS LOVELY, SWEET, AND INNOCENT. The Spirit of God, which, when the earth was first made, “brooded upon the face of the waters” (Gen 1:2), still tenderly watches over creation, and rejoices in the loveliness spread over it by his own influences. Flowers and fruits are among the most beautiful of created things, and well befit the interior of the sanctuary where God’s presence is manifested, whether cunningly carved in stone, or fashioned in metal-work, or, best of all, in their own simple natural freshness.
III. IN THE SOFT RADIANCE SHED AROUND BY THE CANDLESTICK, WE MUST SEE THE ILLUMINATING POWER OF THE SPIRIT, WHICH GIVES LIGHT TO THE WORLD. Spiritual gifts, however diverse, are his gifts. “To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing; to another faith; to another prophecy; to another miracles; to another tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will” (1Co 12:8-11). It is he who “doth our souls inspire, and lighten with celestial fire.” It is he from whom all wisdom and knowledge, and spiritual illumination are derived. He informs the conscience, guides the reason, quickens the spiritual insight, gives us discernment between good and evil. Christ is “the light of the world,” but Christ diffuses his light by his Spirit. Man’s contact is closest with the Third Person of the Trinity, who communicates to the soul every good and perfect gift which has come down to it from the Father of lights. Illumination is especially his gift; and it is therefore that light and fire are made the especial symbols of his presence (Mat 3:11; Act 2:3, Act 2:4; Rev 4:5).
IV. IN THE SEVENFOLD LIGHT OF THE SEVEN LAMPS WE MAY SEE THE FULNESS AND COMPLETENESS OF THE ILLUMINATION WHICH THE SPIRIT VOUCHSAFES TO MAN. Fulness and completeness in respect to man’s needsnot absolute completeness or fulness; for “Now, we see through a glass darkly,” “we know in part onlynot as we are known.” But “his grace is sufficient for us.” We know all that we need to knowwe see all that we need to see. “Full light” and “true knowledge” are for another sphere; but still, even here, we are privileged to see and know as much as would be of advantage to us. Inspired messengers have declared to us what they have felt justified in calling “the whole counsel of God” (Act 20:27). We are familiarly acquainted with mysteries, which the very “angels desire to look into” (1Pe 1:12).
V. IN THE PROVISION OF TONGS AND SNUFF–DISHES WE MAY SEE THAT THE CO–OPERATION OF MAN IS REQUIRED, IF THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT VOUCHSAFED TO HIM IS TO REMAIN UNDIMMED. The lamps of the golden candlestick had to be “dressed” each morning. Perpetual vigilance is necessary. Phrases once instinct with power lose their force; and new phrases, adapted to each new generation, have to be coined and circulated. The translation of the word of God in each country has from time to time to be revised, or an accretion of usage will dim the light of the pure word, and overshadow it with traditional glosses. Teachers must be watchful, that they do not suffer the light of their teaching to grow dim; hearers must Be watchful, that they do not by their obstinacy refuse to give the light passage into their souls.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Exo 25:31-40; Exo 27:17 -24
The candlestick.
As the shew-bread was a symbol of what Jehovah gave to his people in one way, so the lighted candlestick in all the preciousness of its material and elaboration of its workmanship was a symbol in another way. And even as the shew-bread was in magnitude only as a crumb of all the great supply which God gives in the way of food, so the candlestick even in full blaze was but as a glimmer compared with all the light which God had gathered and arranged in various ways to guide and cheer his people. But glimmer though the light of the candlestick might be, it was quite enough to act as an inspiring and encouraging symbol for all who, seeing, were able to understand. From that place between the cherubim, shrouded as it was in awful sanctity, there radiated forth abundance of light for every one in Israel who was disposed to profit by it. In heathendom the perplexed went long distances to consult renowned oracles, only to find that for all practical purposes they might just as well have stayed at home. There was a great boast of illumination; but the reality turned out ambiguous and delusive. But here is the seven-branched candlestick (seven being the perfect number) to indicate that God would assuredly give all needed light to his people. On one side stood the shew-bread, and over against it the light. So we need God’s guidance to show us how to use what materials he puts in our hands for our support. It is only too easy for man, following the light of a corrupted nature, to waste, abuse, and degrade the choice gifts of God. Consider the vast quantities of grain that instead of passing through the hands of the baker to become food, pass through the hands of the brewer and distiller to become alcohol. In all our use of the resources which God has placed in our hands, we must seek with simplicity of purpose and becoming humility for God’s light, that we may be assured of God’s will. God has placed us in the midst of such profusion that we may use it for him and not for self. And is not a lesson taught us in this respect by the very candlestick itself? It was made of gold. The Israelites at this time seem to have had great store of gold; and left to their own inclinations, they gave it for shaping into an image to be worshipped. Now, by causing this candlestick to be made of gold, Jehovah seemed to summon his people to give their gold to aid in supporting and diffusing his light. What God gives may be a curse or a blessing, just according to the spirit in which we receive and use it. We can desire no nobler office than to be ourselves as lamps, doing something to shed abroad that great, true light of the world, which radiates from the person of Christ. He who is living so as to make Christ better known amid the spiritual darkness of the world has surely learnt the great lesson that God would teach to all ages by this golden candlestick in his sanctuary of old.Y.
Exo 25:31. Thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold This candlestick or chandelier was to consist of a shaft, from which were to issue six branches, each branch to have three bowls or cups, made in the shape of almonds, with knops and flowers, ornaments round and foliated like blossoms to each, and a lamp on the top of each of them. In the shaft of the candlestick were to be four of these almond-like bowls, with a lamp upon the top of it, Exo 25:34 and there were to be in each of the six branches, besides the knop which belonged to the bowls, knops in the shank of the candle-stick, so contrived, that the six branches should arise out of three of them, two out of each knop; one on the one side, and the other on the other, Exo 25:35. Thus there were to be seven lamps, one in the shaft on the middle, and six in the branches around, Exo 25:37. These lamps, Aaron and his sons, the priests, were to light. Witsius observes, that “God everywhere, in the administration of his covenants, joined the symbols of light for knowledge, and of food for nourishment. In the first was the tree of knowledge and life; in the desert, the pillar of fire and the manna; here, the candlestick and the table: in the New Testament, baptism called , or illumination, by the ancients, and the holy supper: each of which things we especially want: food to support life; light to walk wisely and rightly.”
All this furniture, so splendid and magnificent as it was, had no doubt a spiritual signification; but, as the apostle observes of these things, we cannot now speak particularly. Heb 9:5 . The tabernacle itself had no windows; perhaps to denote the darkness of the law dispensation: or rather, if we consider the glory of God in the most holy, it was a type of the tabernacle which is in heaven. Rev 21:21-23 ; Isa 60:19-20 . And it is probable, I think, that the candlesticks were meant to represent the illumination of the Holy Ghost in the soul. 2Co 4:6 . Compare Zec 4:2-3 with Rev 4:5 . Observe the precept is again repeated of Moses taking heed to be very particular in forming the whole construction after the pattern given him. In the Old Testament and in the New, this injunction never varies. Deu 5:32 ; Rev 22:18-19 .
Exo 25:31 And thou shalt make a candlestick [of] pure gold: [of] beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
Ver. 31. And thou shalt make a candlestick. ] Called the candlestick of light. Exo 35:14 A type of Christ who is A , light essential, and “giveth light to every man that cometh into the world.” Joh 1:9 See Trapp on “ Joh 1:9 “
Exodus
THE GOLDEN LAMPSTAND
Exo 25:31 If we could have followed the Jewish priest as he passed in his daily ministrations into the Inner Court, we should have seen that he first piled the incense on the altar which stood in its centre, and then turned to trim the lamps of the golden candlestick which flanked it on one side. Of course it was not a candlestick, as our versions misleadingly render the word. That was an article of furniture unknown in those days. It was a lampstand; from a central upright stem branched off on either side three arms decorated with what the Book calls ‘beaten work,’ and what we in modern jewellers’ technicality call rpouss work, each of which bore on its top, like a flower on its stalk, a shallow cup filled with oil, in which a wick floated. There were thus seven lamps in all, including that on the central stem. The material was costly, the work adorning it was artistic, the oil with which it was fed was carefully prepared, the number of its lamps expressed perfection, it was daily trimmed by the priest, and there, all through the night, it burned, the one spot of light in a dark desert.
Now, this Inner Court of the Tabernacle or Temple was intended, with its furniture, to be symbolical of the life of Israel, the priestly nation. The Altar of Incense, which was the main article of ecclesiastical equipment there, and stood in the central place, represented the life of Israel in its Godward aspect, as being a life of continual devotion. The Candlestick on the one hand, and the Table of Shew-bread on the other, were likewise symbolical of other aspects of that same life. I have to deal now with the meaning and lessons of this golden lampstand, and it teaches us-
I. The office manwards of the Church and of the individual Christian.
A remarkable and beautiful variation of that exhortation is found in one of the Apostolic writings when Paul, instead of saying, ‘Ye are the light of the world,’ says, ‘Shine as lights in the world,’ and so gives us the individual, as well as the collective and ecclesiastical, aspect of these great functions. That is a hint that is very much needed. Christian people are quite willing to admit that the Church, the abstraction, the generalisation, is ‘the light of the world.’ But they are wofully apt to slip their own necks out from under the yoke of the obligation, and to forget that the collective light is only the product of the millions of individual lights rushing together-just as in some gas-lights you have a whole series of minute punctures, each of which gives out its own little jet of radiance, and all run together into one brilliant circle. So do not let us escape the personal pressure of this office, or lay it all on the broad shoulders of that generalised abstraction ‘the Church.’ But, since the collective light is but the product of the individual small shinings, let us take the two lessons: first, contribute our part to the general lustre; second, be content with having our part lost in the general light.
But now let me turn for a little while to the more specific meaning of this symbol. The life which, by the central position of the Altar of Incense, was symbolised as being centrally, essentially in its depths and primarily, a life of habitual devotion and communion with God, in its manward aspect is a life that shines ‘to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’ That is the solemn obligation, the ideal function, of the Christian Church and of each individual who professes to belong to it. Now, if you recur to our Lord’s own application of this metaphor, to which I have already referred, you will see that the first and foremost way by which Christian communities and individuals discharge this function is by conduct. ‘Let your light so shine before men’-that they may hear your eloquent proclamation of the Gospel? No! ‘Let your light so shine before men’-that you may convince the gainsayers by argument, or move the hard-hearted by appeals and exhortations; that you may preach and talk? No! ‘That they may see your good works , and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.’ We may say of the Christian community, and of the Christian individual, with all reverence, what the Scripture in an infinitely deeper and more sacred sense says of Jesus Christ Himself, ‘the life was the light.’ It is conduct, whereby most effectually, most universally, and with the least risk of rousing antagonism and hostile feelings, Christian people may ‘shine as lights in the world.’ For we all know how the inconsistencies of a Christian man block the path of the Gospel far more than a hundred sermons or talks further it. We all know how there are people, plenty of them, who, however illogically yet most naturally, compare our lives in their daily action with oar professed beliefs, and, saying to themselves, ‘I do not see that there is much difference between them and me,’ draw the conclusion that it matters very little whether a man is a Christian or not, seeing that the conduct of the men who profess to be so is little more radiant, bright with purity and knowledge and joy, than is the conduct of others. Dear brethren, you can do far more to help or hinder the spread of Christ’s Kingdom by the way in which you do common things, side by side with men who are not partakers of the ‘like precious faith’ with yourselves, than I or my fellow-preachers can do by all our words. It is all very well to lecture about the efficiency of a machine; let us see it at work, and that will convince people. We preach; but you preach far more eloquently, and far more effectively, by your lives. ‘In all labour,’ says the Book of Proverbs, ‘there is profit’-which we may divert from its original meaning to signify that in all Christian living there is force to attract-’but the talk of the lips tendeth only to poverty.’ Oh! if the Christian men and women of England would live their Christianity, they would do more to convert the unconverted, and to draw in the outcasts, than all of us preachers can do. ‘From you,’ said the Apostle once to a church very young, and just rescued from the evils of heathenism-’from you sounded out,’ as if blown from a trumpet, ‘the Word of the Lord, so that we need not to speak anything.’ Live the life, and thereby you diffuse the light.
Nor need we forget that this most potent of all weapons is one that can be wielded by all Christian people. Our gifts differ. Some of us cannot speak for Jesus; some of us who think we can had often better hold our tongues. But we can all live like and for Him. And this most potent and universally diffused possibility is also the weapon that can be wielded with least risk of failure. There is a certain assumption, which it is often difficult to swallow, in a Christian man’s addressing another on the understanding that he, the speaker, possesses something which the other lacks. By words we may often repel, and often find that the ears that we seek to enter with our message close themselves against us and are unwilling to hear. But there is no chance of offending anybody, or of repelling anybody, by living Christlike. We can all do that, and it is the largest contribution that any of us can make to the collective light which shines out from the Christian Church.
But, brethren, we have to remember that there are dangers attending the life that reveals its hidden principles as being faith in Christ and obedience to Him. Did you ever notice how, in the Sermon on the Mount, there are two sets of precepts which seem diametrically opposite to one another? There is a whole series of illustrations of the one commandment, ‘Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them,’ and then there Is the precept, ‘Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works.’ So that whilst, on the one hand, there is to be the manifestation in daily conduct of the inner principles that animate us, on the other hand, if there comes in the least taint or trace of ostentation, everything is spoiled, and the light is darkness. The light of the sun makes all things visible and hides itself. We do not see the sunbeams, but we see what the sunbeams illuminate. It is the coarser kinds of light which are themselves separately visible, and they are so only because they have not power enough to make everything around them as brilliant as they themselves are. So our light is to be silent, our light is-if I might use such a phrase-to hide itself in ‘a glorious privacy,’ whilst it enables men to see, even through our imperfect ministration, the face of our Father in Heaven.
But let me remind you that the same variation by Paul of our Lord’s words to which I have already referred as bringing out the difference between the collective and the individual function, also brings out another difference; for Paul says, ‘Ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.’ He slightly varies the metaphor. We are no longer regarded as being ourselves illuminants, but simply as being the stands on which the light is placed. And that means that whilst the witness by life is the mightiest, the most universally possible, and the least likely to offend, there must also be, as occasion shall serve, without cowardice, without shamefaced reticence, the proclamation of the great Gospel which has made us ‘lights in the world.’ And that is a function which every Christian man can discharge too, though I have just been saying that they cannot all preach and speak; for every Christian soul has some other soul to whom its word comes with a force that none other can have.
So the one office that is set forth here is the old familiar one, the obligation of which is fully recognised by us all, and pitifully ill-discharged by any of us, to shine by our daily life, and to shine by the actual communication by speech of ‘the Name that is above every name.’ That is the ideal; alas for the reality! ‘Ye are the light of the world.’ What kind of light do we-the Church of Christ that gathers here-ray out into the darkness of Manchester? Socially, intellectually, morally, in the civic life, in the national life, are Christian people in the van? They ought to be. There is a church clock in our city which has a glass dial that professes to be illuminated at night, so that the passer-by may tell the hour; but it is generally burning so dimly that nobody can see on its grimy face what o’ clock it is. That is like a great many of our churches, and I ask you to ask yourselves whether it is like you or not-a dark lantern, a most imperfectly illuminated dial, which gives no guidance and no information to anybody.
This golden lampstand teaches us-
II. How this office is to be discharged.
To begin with, we note that our light is a derived light, and therefore can only be kept bright when we keep close to the source from whence it is derived.
‘That was the true Light, which coming into the world lighteth every man’-there is the source of all illumination, in Jesus Christ Himself. He alone is the Light, and as for all others we must say of them what was said of His great forerunner, ‘Not that light, but sent to bear witness of that light’; and again, ‘he was a light kindled,’ and therefore ‘shining,’ and so his shining was but ‘for a season.’ But Jesus is for ever the light of the world, and all our illumination comes from Him. As Paul says, ‘Now are ye light in the Lord,’ therefore only in the measure in which we are ‘in the Lord,’ shall we be light. Keep near to Him and you will shine; break the connection with Him, and you are darkness, darkness for yourselves, and darkness for the world. Switch off, and the light is darkness.
Change the metaphor, and instead of saying ‘derived light’ say ‘reflected light.’ There is a pane of glass in a cottage, miles away across the moor. It was invisible a moment ago, and suddenly it gleams like a diamond. Why? The sun has struck it; and in a moment after it will be invisible again. As long as Jesus Christ is shining on my heart, so long, and not a moment longer, shall I give forth the light that will illumine the world. Astronomers have a contrivance by which they can keep a photographic film on which they are seeking to get the image of a star, moving along with the movement of the heavens, so that on the same spot the star shall always shine. We have to keep ourselves steady beneath the white beam from Jesus, and then we, too, shall be ‘light in the Lord.’
Our light is fed light. Daily came the priest, daily the oil that had been exhausted by shining was replenished. We all know what that oil means and is; the Divine Spirit which comes into every heart which is open by faith in Christ, and which abides in every heart where there are desire, obedience, and the following of Him; which can be quenched by my sin, by my negligence, by my ceasing to wish it, by my not using its gifts when I have them; which can be grieved by my inconsistencies, and by the spots of darkness that so often take up more of the sphere of my life than the spots of illumination. But we can have as much of that oil of the Divine Spirit, the ‘unction from the Holy One,’ as we desire, and expect, and use. And unless we have, dear brethren, there is no shining for us. This generation in its abundant activities tends to a Christianity which has more spindles than power, which is more surface than depth, which is so anxious to do service that it forgets the preliminary of all right service, patient, solitary, silent communion with God. Suffer the word of exhortation-let shining be second, let replenishing with the oil be first. First the Altar of Incense, then the Candlestick.
III. This golden lampstand tells us of the fatal effect of neglecting the Church’s and the individual’s duty.
‘Take heed lest He also spare not thee.’ O brethren! is it not a bitter irony to call us ‘lights of the world’? Let us penitently recognise the inconsistencies of our lives, and the reticence of our speech. Let us not lose sight of the high ideal, that we may the more penitently recognise the miserable falling short of our reality. And let us be thankful that the Priest is tending the lamps. ‘He will not quench the smoking wick,’ but will replenish it with oil, and fan the dying flame. Only let us not resist His ministrations, which are always gentle, even when He removes the charred blacknesses that hinder our being what we should be, and may be, if we will-lights of the world. ‘Arise! shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.’
candlestick = lampstand.
shall . . . be made. Some codices, with Samaritan Pentateuch, The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel Septuagint, and Syriac, read “shalt thou make”.
knops = knobs.
candlestick
Candlestick, type of Christ our Light, shining in the fullness of the power of the sevenfold Spirit Isa 11:2; Heb 1:9; Rev 1:4. Natural light was excluded from the tabernacle. (Cf) 1Co 2:14; 1Co 2:15.
(See Scofield “Gen 1:16”) Joh 1:4.
a candlestick: Exo 35:14, Exo 37:17-24, Exo 40:24, Exo 40:25, 1Ki 7:49, 2Ch 13:11, Zec 4:2, Heb 9:2, Rev 1:12, Rev 1:20, Rev 2:1, Rev 2:5, Rev 4:5
his knops: 1Ki 6:18, 1Ki 7:24
Reciprocal: Exo 26:35 – the candlestick Exo 27:20 – for the light Exo 31:8 – pure candlestick Exo 37:22 – were Exo 40:4 – the candlestick Lev 24:4 – the pure Num 4:9 – General Num 8:4 – this work Num 10:2 – of a whole piece 1Ch 28:15 – the candlesticks 2Ch 4:7 – according to 2Ch 4:20 – the candlesticks 2Ch 4:21 – the flowers Jer 52:19 – and the candlesticks
Exo 25:31. This candlestick had many branches drawn from the main shaft, which had not only bowls to put the oil and the kindled wick in for necessity, but knops made in the form of a pomegranate and flowers for ornament. The tabernacle had no windows, all its light was candle-light, which denotes the comparative darkness of that dispensation, while, the Sun of righteousness was not as yet risen, nor had the Day-star from on high visited his church. Yet God left not himself without witness, nor them without instruction; the commandment was a lamp, and the law a light, and the prophets were branches from that lamp, which gave light in their several ages. The church is still dark, as the tabernacle was, in comparison with what it will be in heaven: but the word of God is the candlestick, a light shining in a dark place.
Exo 25:31-40 P. The Golden Candlestick (or Lampstand, cf. Exo 37:17 and Exo 25:24).This was of massive gold, weighing 96 lbs., with its vessels (Exo 25:40), having a base, a central stem, and six branches, all ornamented with bosses shaped like almond flowers, each cup or entire blossom being made up of the outer knop or calyx and the inner flower or corolla, three bosses on each branch and four on the central stem, as well as knops at the three points where the pairs of branches met the stem (Exo 25:31-36). The seven lamps were probably shaped like sauce-boats, the wick protruding at the narrow end, and were to be fixed on (not lighted) so as to give light over against it, i.e. in front of it, with the wicks pointing north (Exo 25:37). Tongs or tweezers for drawing up the wicks, and snuff-dishes were ordered also (Exo 25:38). This design corresponds to that used in the post-exilic Temple (1Ma 1:21) as shown on the Arch of Titus (contrast the ten in Solomons Temple, 1Ki 7:49).
25:31 And thou shalt make a candlestick [of] pure gold: [of] beaten {i} work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same.
(i) It shall not be molten, but beaten out of the lump of gold with the hammer.
The lampstand 25:31-40
This piece of furniture was probably similar in size to the table of showbread (Exo 25:39). It stood opposite that table in the holy place against the south (left) wall. It weighed about 75 pounds. The tabernacle craftsmen fashioned it in the form of a stylized plant or tree. It connoted life and fertility.
"The signification of the seven-armed candlestick is apparent from its purpose, viz. to carry seven lamps, which were trimmed and filled with oil every morning, and lighted every evening, and were to burn throughout the night (chap. xxvii. 20, 21, xxx. 7, 8; Lev. xxiv. 3, 4). As the Israelites were to prepare spiritual food in the shew-bread in the presence of Jehovah, and to offer continually the fruit of their labour in the field of the kingdom of God, as a spiritual offering to the Lord; so also were they to present themselves continually to Jehovah in the burning lamps, as the vehicles and media of light, as a nation letting its light shine in the darkness of this world (cf. Matt. Exo 25:14; Exo 25:16; Luke xii. 35; Phil. ii. 15). The oil, through which the lamps burned and shone, was, according to its peculiar virtue in imparting strength to the body and restoring vital power, a representation of the Godlike spirit, the source of all the vital power of man; whilst the oil, as offered by the congregation of Israel, and devoted to sacred purposes according to the command of God, is throughout the Scriptures a symbol of the Spirit of God, by which the congregation of God was filled with higher light and life. By the power of this Spirit, Israel, in covenant with the Lord, was to let its light shine, the light of its knowledge of God and spiritual illumination, before all the nations of the earth. In its seven arms the stamp of the covenant relationship was impressed upon the candlestick; and the almond-blossom with which it was ornamented represented the seasonable offering of the flowers and fruits of the Spirit, the almond-tree deriving its name . . . from the fact that it is the earliest of all the trees in both its blossom and its fruit (cf. Jer 1:11-12). The symbolic character of the candlestick is clearly indicated in the Scriptures. The prophet Zechariah (chap. 4) sees a golden candlestick with seven lamps and two olive-trees, one on either side, from which the oil-vessel is supplied; and the angel who is talking with him informs him that the olive-trees are the two sons of oil, that is to say, the representatives of the kingdom and priesthood, the divinely appointed organs through which the Spirit of God was communicated to the covenant nation. And in Rev 1:20, the seven churches, which represent the new people of God, i.e., the Christian Church, are shown to the holy seer in the form of seven candlesticks standing before the throne of God." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 2:174-75.]
"In company with the Table attesting Yahweh’s Presence in bounty and the Ark attesting Yahweh’s Presence in mercy and revelation, the Lampstand symbolized Yahweh’s Presence in perpetual wakefulness, through the reminder of the almond tree and the continual brightness of the living fire (cf. Num 17:16-26 [Num 17:1-11]). The watcher over Israel never nodded, much less slept (Psa 121:4)." [Note: Durham, p. 365.]
Like the showbread, the burning lamps may have symbolized both the character of God and the calling of Israel. The seven-branched lampstand (menorah) has been and is a popular symbol of Judaism and Israel even today around the world. A bas relief of the lampstand that stood in Herod’s Temple is still visible on an inside panel on the Arch of Titus that stands in Rome. The Romans built this arch following Titus’ destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
"The lampstand is commonly taken to be a type of Christ, usually on the basis of Rev 1:4 [cf. Exo 25:12-13]. It has also been taken as a symbolic image of the Law." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 302.]
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)